


Matters Of The Heart

by saltierthanabagofpeanuts



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Harry Potter, M/M, Ministry of Magic Employee Draco Malfoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28933176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltierthanabagofpeanuts/pseuds/saltierthanabagofpeanuts
Summary: “You'll always be Potter to me.”Harry chuckled. “Should've figured. Anyway, what do you say? Teammates?”Draco nodded reluctantly, unsure of what he was getting himself into. “Sure, why not?”~In which Draco and Harry are co - workers at the Ministry of Magic and Harry's put in charge of Draco's department. Conversations happen, feelings are shared.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Matters Of The Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on this platform and this is also the very first Drarry fanfiction I've written. Feel free to let me know what you think! Happy reading!
> 
> TW: discussion of therapy, guilt, death, and bereavement

It had barely been a little over a week since Harry had been put in charge of his department and Draco couldn't get used to his presence.   
They'd been working together for almost three years now but they'd always been assigned to different departments in the Ministry of Magic, with Harry being in the Auror Office, and Draco confined to the Hit Wizards.   
Their paths crossed once in a while as both their departments came under the purview of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement but nothing ever came out of it. Other than the perfunctory civil greeting in hallways and elevators and the monthly departmental meeting with all the divisions, Draco never really saw much of Harry and he was all the more grateful for that.   
Potter, as Draco referred to him, could rile him up like no other. Even in their Hogwarts days, they'd never really got along, but then, they'd moved around in different circles entirely.   
But now things were different.   
Now Harry had been taken over his department temporarily.   
Granted, the man had experience and was astoundingly good at what he did, and in the three years Draco had been here, having joined a year later than his former classmates, he'd only seen Harry advance in his career as Ministry employee and grow from strength to strength. By twenty two, Harry was the youngest ever to head a department even though it was a temporary gig and he'd go back to his own department once a formal selection was made.   
But in the meanwhile, Harry was here to stay and Draco was left fuming after each encounter he had with him. He'd been slightly alarmed at the sight of him on that first day, dressed in bespoke robes, cutting an impressive figure among the sheaves of papers and warrants and mountains of files.  
The years seem to have worked a strange magic over Harry. He’d grown even taller than he’d been in his Hogwarts days and with his easy smile and those piercing green eyes of his, Draco couldn’t help but feel a little attracted to him. He couldn't recall having felt that way in...well, years. The last few years had left very little time for matters of the heart. This was a new experience, and it wasn't entirely unpleasant. In fact, it was anything but.   
And then, Harry had glanced across the room and their eyes met. Draco had instantly felt a little shudder inside that he couldn’t recall having felt in years and he’d looked away.  
He instantly reprimanded himself for his thoughts. He needed to drop it. Harry had been put in-charge of his department and he needed to keep things between them strictly professional.   
Later that day, Harry he'd dropped by every single office, including his, to make him known to those in the Hit Wizards department.   
Draco hated intrusions and on that very first day, Harry's presence in his little office had seemed like an intrusion. They'd exchanged pleasantries and that had been that but something told him that wouldn't be the last he'd be seeing of Harry and that there would be more such intrusions in weeks to come.   
Growing up as a Malfoy, Draco had spent a fair amount of time in the public eye and the experiences had left a sordid taste in their wake. His family had gone from being one of the most celebrated Wizarding families in Britain and Ireland to one of the most reviled ones after the War.  
They had no one but themselves to blame, Draco had told his mother bitterly one day in the weeks shortly following his father's trial and eventual incarceration.  
They'd lost practically everything: Malfoy Manor had been seized, their assets frozen or sold, with only the barest of possessions left to them. Seeing his childhood home being sealed off and locked away from him had been his cross to bear and four years later, he still lived with that painful memory burned into his brain.  
With journalists hounding him at every turn, that first year had been hell for him and his mother. There'd scarcely been a moment of peace for them that year. The journalists were relentless and wouldn't rest until they'd sunk their teeth into the wreckage of their lives and drawn enough blood for a scoop, spicy enough to satisfy their ravenous readers.   
People always relished in seeing the high and mighty fall from grace, he’d thought. There was a terrible delight in that sort of schadenfreude.   
The final straw had been Rita Skeeter who, of all people, announced she'd be writing a book chronicling the astounding rise and fall of the Malfoys. Draco had to write several letters to the Ministry itself asking for a cease and desist order to be issued. There wasn't much, if any, sympathy for him to be found there and things looked rather bleak until one day, all the pestering suddenly screeched to a halt and in the weeks to follow, there’d be no hounding at all.  
It had been Harry.   
He'd interceded with Skeeter on his behalf, agreeing to a lengthy exclusive interview from his side, and put in a word at the Daily Prophet and other smaller publications, telling them firmly to respect the Malfoys' privacy or there would be consequences.  
The journalists had clearly overstepped and there had been a clear invasion of privacy. Harry knew first-hand what it felt like to be in the hunting line of the press and he’d told the Prophet he didn’t want anyone else to go through what he had to. No matter where their loyalties had lain before the War.   
Draco learned of this much later when he started working at the Ministry himself.   
Parvati Patil, a former classmate of his and presently his colleague, had disclosed this to him during a particularly boring departmental meeting. The former Head had been droning on about their monthly numbers and the lack of funding since the War and Draco was only half – listening. He’d arrived late and had been forced to take a seat beside Parvati and they’d got to talking.   
He found himself recalling it now as Harry went about briefing the department that day.   
Draco still found it perplexing to say the least; Harry and he had never been friends so why would he have done that and so suddenly? They'd always got off on the wrong foot and after more than a decade's worth of mutual hatred, Draco wasn't sure there was any chance of them making a fresh start.   
There was too much pain and hurt on both sides to be able to work through that.  
It seemed insurmountable.  
Besides, he told himself, this was Harry bloody Potter.   
Noble selfless Potter. The Chosen One.   
He probably did things like this for just about everyone. He'd seen him around the office, buying people drinks at The Leaky Cauldron every other Friday, taking his whole department out for lunch, getting his co-workers customised Christmas presents. Harry was friendliness personified and he for his own part, mused Draco, was anything but.  
If anything, he was aloofness personified.  
He kept to himself and arrived at and left the office like clockwork, not bothering to socialise with his co-workers unless necessary. Draco valued his privacy intensely and he wasn't used to people walking in on him with the sort of nonchalance that Harry seemed to exude. Seeing him at his desk had made him feel perplexed and unsettled and something else he couldn't quite identify. 

~

This was his second week as temporary Head, and Harry had dropped by his office today for the third time this week, without prior warning, to tell him that he'd assigned Draco over to his team as his partner.   
"Your what?" Draco had asked, the file in his hands slipping out and landing on his cluttered desk with a thump.   
He cleared his throat and waited for his usual reserve to come back before he quickly said, "I mean, I've always worked alone. I don't think I need a partner." Harry smiled, and the green depths of his eyes glinted like emeralds in the rare early morning sunlight streaming through the small office window. In the soft diffused light of the morning, Harry seemed unusually attractive. More than he had ever before in their Hogwarts years. Draco blinked and checked his thoughts.   
It wouldn't do for him to suddenly develop a crush on Harry, especially now that they were in the same department. He'd never hear the end of the gossip that would ensue and Merlin knew he didn't need more of that. Things had to be confined to a strictly professional level between the two of them but Harry wasn't making it easier with his offer. Matters of the heart and matters of work needed to be kept separate.  
"But I do. I think it'd be better that way. Much more cohesive and less time consuming. Besides, it's not very wise to go off into missions alone with no support. Imagine the dangers you'd be facing. We'd be great together, don't you think?"   
"We barely know each other and we were the fiercest of rivals at school, so no, I don't think we'd be great together, as you put it," Draco stated simply, crossing his arms in dissent.   
"Come, now," Harry replied, smiling yet again, "I wouldn't quite call you my fiercest rival, Draco. That spot was already occupied before I even met you. Besides, that's all a thing of the past now. We're not in Hogwarts anymore."  
They were on first name terms now?, wondered Draco.   
In all the years they'd known each other, they'd never called each other anything other Potter and Malfoy except for the occasional well directed swear thrown around.   
"It seems we aren't," replied Draco in a sombre voice. He wasn't sure why Harry was suddenly being so friendly.   
"So you're saying yes? To being on my team?" asked Harry eagerly.  
"And here I was thinking I'd be given an opportunity to think things over or to refuse," Draco said wryly.  
"Call me optimistic, but I was hoping you wouldn't."  
Draco raised an eyebrow. "Care to state why?"   
For the life of him, he couldn't understand why the man wanted him on his team so eagerly.   
“Well,” started Harry “I've seen the files. You've got the best record out of anyone in this department. There hasn't been a single case where you've slipped up since you completed training. Your paperwork is impeccable and completely updated. You're the best this department's got and frankly, you should be up for a few promotions already. But why haven't you?”  
“Isn't it obvious?” Draco inquired, letting out a humourless laugh.   
The other man looked a bit puzzled by this. “I'm not sure what you mean by that.”  
“Come off it, Potter,” Draco said, the ghost of bitterness and pain shining in his silvery grey eyes. “Don't pretend like you haven't heard the rumours. That's well beneath you.”  
Harry stilled a little at that, his smile disappearing. “Which ones are you specifically talking about?”   
“The ones where practically half the Ministry believes that I'm hatching some nefarious plot to exact revenge upon the Ministry for imprisoning my father? That I'm feeding my father inside information even though I haven't really spoken to him since he was imprisoned? That I'm planning to somehow resurrect Voldemort and raise an army of dementors?   
Believe me, I've heard all sorts and I can't really say I blame the ones who come up with this rubbish either. It's not like I've ever done anything remotely worthy or anything to even garner a shred of sympathy or concern let alone respect.   
And you of all people should know, Potter. I was a complete nightmare to you back in Hogwarts. I don't know how you ever put up with me. And I certainly don't deserve or expect your apology.”  
Harry fell silent for a few moments at that.   
Then, he looked up and said, "You're right, you were. But it wasn't just you. We were both ghastly to each other back then. But we've definitely grown as people since then, haven't we? We could put that in the past and try to move on as mature adults. Make a fresh start. Besides, I forgave you. For everything. I was in therapy and I realized that holding onto grudges wasn't personally working for me so I started letting go of it all one by one. Forgave my aunt and uncle, my cousin, even you."  
“Me?” repeated Draco.   
“Yes, you,” replied Harry, “Turns out you occupied a much more significant portion of my thoughts than I would've wagered.”  
Draco's eyes widened a little at that. Over the years, he'd thought about Harry too, and not always in the ways he'd expected.   
“Did that help?” he asked, the curiosity barely concealed in his voice.   
“Oh yes, it did. Might help you too.”  
“What? Thinking about you?”   
The words slipped out before Draco had a chance to fully consider them. But from the flush creeping up on Harry's face, he could see the words had had far more than their intended effect. He hadn't even known why he'd said that, maybe it was just because he'd wanted to unsettle Harry, to throw him off guard but here he was blushing like a tomato. Draco didn't know what to make of it. Some secret part of him was gloating, smiling at the effect his words had had on the person who was supposedly his greatest rival.  
“N-no, not that,” Harry's voice had gone slightly breathy and high pitched. “I meant therapy.”  
“Oh, that. I hadn't really considered that. Didn't know they had therapy for wizards,” admitted Draco.   
“They do. Hermione made me try it out. She really is the smartest witch of her age, that girl,” replied Harry.  
“Why'd you go, if you don't mind telling me?” asked Draco, starting to feel a little concerned for the man standing opposite him.   
“Are you in a mental position to handle a heavy conversation? Otherwise I can tell you some other time,” Harry said to him.  
“Yes, I think I can. I'm feeling alright, I suppose. I'd wager I'm in the headspace to handle a heavy conversation”  
Harry took a deep breath and started, "So after the war, I was a wreck. Losing all those people in one night...somehow I kept thinking that it was all my fault, that they'd all died because of me and well...I couldn't live with that endless guilt anymore. I'd look Teddy in the face and see so much of Remus and Tonks there that I'd be paralysed with guilt. My brain would be screaming that my little godson was orphaned because of me. My innocent little godson.   
I'd visit the Burrow and the entire time I'd be thinking, Fred had died because of me. That I'd killed him. I couldn't look Ginny in the face without thinking I was responsible for her losing her brother. It got to the point where I had to end things with her. I just couldn't take it anymore. I realised I's never fully processed Cedric's or Sirius' death and it still hurt me. I missed them. Especially Sirius. His loss hit me the hardest.  
Things got to a... terrible point...I was in a dark place, unlike anything else I'd ever been through and I'd lost hope of making it out alive. That was when Hermione stepped in and made me start therapy and it has been one of the best decisions I've ever made. Honestly. Fighting dementors is easy enough but not when they live inside you.”  
Draco went speechless at that.   
He wasn't certain what an appropriate response would be to that. This wasn't like school anymore where they'd shooting insults back and forth at each other until they got sick of each other. Here, they were in his tiny office, talking about work and all of a sudden the conversation had suddenly run deep and here Harry was being vulnerable and practically offering Draco a door into his soul and inviting him in. And suddenly Draco didn't think he could refuse.   
Why? he wanted to ask, Why me? Why now? Why are you telling me this?  
He could relate to some of what Harry was saying, the guilt, the blame, and the dementors living inside of him. He hadn’t thought anyone else could feel that way, and he’d always struggled to put it to words but Harry had described it so vividly Draco had felt as if the words had come from within him.  
“Sorry if that was too much. I probably shouldn't have gone into such detail,” Harry said solemnly, holding his gaze.   
“No, that's fine,” said Draco before softly adding, “You're brave, Potter. Being able to talk about your struggles so honestly and openly, that takes some courage.”  
“Courage, and therapy, Draco,” said Harry smiling.   
Draco found himself smiling in reply. “You should adopt that as your personal motto, Potter.”  
“Don't reckon I have one. But I'll keep that on mind if I ever think I need it. And please don't continue calling me Potter, it gives me terrible flashbacks of our Hogwarts days. Just call me Harry.”  
“You'll always be Potter to me.”  
Harry chuckled. “Should've figured. Anyway, what do you say? Teammates?”  
Draco nodded reluctantly, unsure of what he was getting himself into. “Sure, why not?”

~

By the start of Harry's second month as the departmental Head, Draco had received a notice for his long due promotion.  
The interview had gone well enough and the higher-ups seemed to be finally noticing that Draco really was hardworking and quite the asset to the Magical Law Enforcement department as a whole and not just to the Hit Wizards. His work had improved even more than before and he was finally making more arrests than the entire department of Hit Wizards put together.   
He was contributing in meetings whereas previously he'd just shut himself up and blended into the background of the departmental melee occasionally bothering to talk to Parvati or Theodore Nott, a fellow Slytherin who was also from his department or Pansy, if she ever happened to come by his side of the Ministry.  
But now he was making suggestions and noting things down. He was playing an active role and he couldn't help but thinking that it was Harry who had pushed him to do this just by being there and offering a quiet encouragement.   
It was quite the surprise for Draco considering their history but it was definitely a change for the better.   
They were working on cases together too. And together, they were doing more than a brilliant job of it.   
However, when they were not together, Draco would catch himself absent-mindedly thinking about Harry in a way he hadn't thought of anyone in a long time. He knew he shouldn't, that it would be crossing professional boundaries that shouldn't be crossed, but he couldn't stop thinking about him nevertheless.   
And there was Harry himself.   
Sometimes he'd catch Harry looking at him for a little too long with this odd faraway look in his beautiful green eyes and look away whenever their gazes met. Sometimes their eyes would meet for the briefest of moments during departmental briefings and meetings and Draco would get this sudden urge of wanting to drown himself in those green depths or when their hands would touch while they were caught in the thrall of a mission and Draco would feel a series of sparks jolt down his hands, his neck, his spine. Those little things made it even more difficult for him to get Harry out of his thoughts.   
It was impossible.

One Friday, Draco was working late when Harry, who he now saw more than anyone else in the office, strolled into his office and said,  
“So...what's our plan for tonight?”   
Draco was a little surprised. Although they hung around the office and sometimes took lunch breaks together, they really hadn't hung outside of work.   
And on a Friday night at that.  
Besides, he had plans which involved a book, a nice bottle of wine and a cheese platter. He might've lost the majority of his wealth but he clearly hadn't lost his expensive tastes. So once or twice a month, he indulged if only to remember what it felt like to have the finer things in life. He didn't miss a lot about his former life except for his occasional cravings for finery.   
Old habits really did die hard and in some cases, like Draco's they didn't really die at all, only subsided.   
And he certainly wasn't going to give up one night of blissful indulgence in extravagance without any prior notice.   
Besides, it wasn't like he'd ever really hung out with Harry outside of work. They were work partners and that was that.  
He began, “We do not have a plan-”  
Harry cut him off by saying, “Well, let's make one.”  
Draco really didn't mean to be rude but he really wanted to be left alone after a long draining week of being around other people and ugh, socialising. Harry was being far too eager for his own good and he thought of the wine and cheese waiting for him at home.   
“-I have my own plans that don't include you.”   
Well, that came off a bit sharply, Draco thought. He drew a breath.   
“I thought we were a team!” declared Harry.   
Merlin's beard, was he actually pouting?, thought Draco.   
He exhaled and said, "We are. Which is why I need a break."  
He'd been around Harry for nearly the entire day, the last four days in a row.   
The more time he spent in his company, the more irresistible Harry seemed and the last thing Draco wanted to start was an office romance and with the Ministry's most promising Auror and The Chosen One, no less.   
And he wasn’t even sure if Harry felt the same way.  
"You need a break from me?" Harry sounded surprised and slightly hurt.   
Merlin! What was up with Potter?! He let out a breath and said, "Yes...so I'll still like you in the morning."  
Harry started laughing at that. "Wow. I'm that bad huh?"  
"Worse," said Draco.   
"Oh really?"   
"Absolutely." Draco nodded.  
"Guess you don't think too highly of me yet."  
"I suppose you don't either."  
Harry broke into a smile at that. "Oh, Draco Malfoy if you knew the things I thought of you!"   
Before he knew it, Draco was smirking. "Shame I don't, would've been able to bring some of things to reality if I did, Potter."  
Harry's tone was challenging."Oh would you, really?"   
Draco gave a little laugh at that. "Why, Potter, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were flirting with me."  
Harry moved forward, closing distance between the two of them. "What gives you the idea that I'm not?"  
"The fact that your lips aren't already on mine," whispered Draco and edged even closer until the two of them were a barely a hair's breadth apart.   
"Can I kiss you?" asked Harry, his voice barely rising above a whisper.  
"Potter, I thought you'd never ask."


End file.
